The number of people paying higher rate tax has increased over the past year by 310,000 from 6m to 6.31m, according to the latest HMRC figures.

Quilter has warned that more than 1.1m taxpayers could be dragged into higher rate tax bands by 2027.

Today’s Scottish Budget saw middle and higher earners hit with an additional tax bill from next year.

The Chancellor has inadvertently gifted Financial Planners an almost unending stream of frazzled new clients by freezing the tax thresholds, if the latest HMRC data and some fresh predictions on the number of higher rate taxpayers are anything to go by.